26 
E. EKELÖF. 
(Schwed. Südpolar-Exp. 
schen und norwegischen). Hier erkrankten während der Überwinterung alle Teil- 
nehmer mit sehr gleichartigen Symptomen. Einer starb, und mehrere waren nahe 
daran, demselben Geschick zu erliegen. In dem folgenden gebe ich einige Auszüge 
des Reiseberichtes des Arztes der Expedition, Dr. F. COOK (»Through, the first Ant- 
arctic night», London 1900). Leider sind die in diesem Berichte sich vorfindenden, 
in medizinischer Hinsicht interessanten Data ziemlich unvollständig und unwissen- 
schaftlich. 
Schon am 31. Mai schrieb er: »We became pale with a kind of greenish hue; 
our secretions were more or less suppressed. The stomach and all the organs were 
sluggish and refused to work. Most dangerous of all were the cardiac and cerebral 
symptoms. The heart acted as if it had lost its regulating influence. Its action was 
feeble, but its beats were not increased until other dangerous symptoms appeared. 
Its action was weak, irregular and entirely unreliable throughout the night. The 
mental symptoms were not so noticeable. The men were incapable of concentration 
and unable to continue prolonged thought. One sailor was forced to the verge of 
insanity, but he recovered with the returning sun . . .» Am 3. Juni: »We are all 
eating appreciably less now than during the bright season — and either there is a 
constant inclination to sleep or persistent insomnia. There is much in digestion now, 
— fermentation, gastric inertia, intestinal and gastric pains, imperfect hepatic action, 
and a general suppression of all the digestive secretions. The heart is unsteady, 
easily disturbed, and mitral murmurs, which I have not heard before, are audible. 
Temperatures, almost without exception, are subnormal. The breathing is often 
difficult, the blood retreats from the skin, but the larger veins are abnormally full. 
Piles, haemorrhoids, headache, neuralgia, rheumatism are the systematic complaints.» 
19. Juni: »Anaemia, or a condition allied to it, in one form or another and under 
various descriptions, is always found if sought for by an experienced eye. This 
malady we have had in by far the severest form which I have noticed in any arctic 
experiences, and more severely than is recorded in the literature of polar explora- 
tion. We have lost one officer, and a second barely escaped death. The marines 
are all afflicted; the condition is truly alarming» . . . Am 12. Juli wird erzählt, dass 
der Sekonde, der bis dahin die ganze Zeit gesund gewesen war, nachdem er draussen 
einige wissenschaftliche Observationen vorgenommen hatte, hereingekommen und 
plötzlich krank geworden: »But to-day I have to record the saddening news that L. 
is suddenly failing. Not that he has complained of any ill feeling, for he still main- 
tains that he feels well; but in the usual daily examination I notice that his pulse is 
intermitting, the first sign of coming debility. He is assuming a deathly pallor, does 
not eat, and finds it difficult to either sleep or breathe. There is a puffiness under 
the eyes, his ankles are swollen, and the entire skin has a dry, glossy appearance.» 
Weiter spricht Dr. COOK von der Behandlung dieser Form von »polar anaemia» 
